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Tag: base16

Base 16 Initiative

The tonal system came up in my mind because of how the time units seem to work so well for old school D&D and possibly 5e, but I'd have to look at it more. Bear with me, I'll get to how this thought exercise helps me.

A hexadecimal second is 1.31 seconds long. This would really change anything.

A hexadecimal minute is about 21 seconds. This could be considered a round. It's twice as long as I'd normally have a round, but I could say that you can take four actions in a round instead of my normal two actions in a round.

A hexadecimal maxime (there is no analogue in our current time system) is about 5 and half minutes long. I could call this a turn.

I am a pianist, so I can easily think in terms of two 16th notes makes an eighth note, four of them make a quarter note and so on.

Get on with the game part of this

In the game, two rounds make 1/4 turn. four rounds make 1/2 a turn. For spells that last for turns, I feel like I can track them easier. I have a circle for each spell that lasts turns and mark the time elapsed in quarters.

I do clothespin initiative, but I get two different colors of wooden clothespins and make two color clothespins. After determining the initiative order and placing them on my referee screen, after each person finishes their turn, I turn the clothespin around. When I see all the same color clothespins on my side, it's another round.

If I have yellow and green clothespins and start with the green side facing me, every time all the clothespins facing me are all green, that would mark a 1/4 of a turn. In the circle representing the spell, I quickly shade in 1/4 of the circle.

My old system was that since 10 rounds equals 1 turn, I would use tick marks for every two rounds.

Something to think about more.

This book makes everything base 16, including copper, silver, and gold coins. (and it's free).

Seriously, he remakes time, navigation, musical notation, numbering, weight systems.. everything.

This is how I think about campaign creation from the ground up, but I know that very few, if anyone, would play in a game where absolutely everything is Hexadecimal.

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